Thread: El Paso man arrested in holding smuggled boys for ransom

http://elpasotimes.com/news/ci_4759174

EP man arrested in holding smuggled boys for ransom
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched:12/02/2006 12:00:00 AM MST


Antonio Vicente Torres A suspected immigrant smuggler allegedly held two brothers, ages 9 and 11, whose mother had been deported, and demanded $1,000 from their father, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Friday.
The case came to the agency's attention when the boys' father called the Border Patrol for help, ICE officials said.

The harrowing experience had a happy ending: The boys were returned to their parents.

But "it was hairy while the agents were trying to locate the children," said Leticia Zamarripa, ICE spokeswo man.

Thursday afternoon, ICE agents arrested Antonio Vicente Torres, 31, of the 900 block of Destello, while he was picking up the ransom money in the Fox Plaza parking lot. Only the 11-year-old boy was with Torres.

The 9-year-old had been left outside a tire store at North Loop and Carolina Drive in the Lower Valley. Agents found him sitting on the curb, alone.

Torres, a U.S. citizen, is being charged with alien smuggling.

The boys were separated from their mother after Border Patrol agents caught her and she

agreed to be returned to Mexico early Thursday. Torres then allegedly called the boys' father and demanded $1,000.
The family's whereabouts was kept secret for their protection, ICE officials said.

"Smuggling people is a vile crime in itself; taking innocent children and holding them for ransom goes far beyond that. It is a criminal act of indecency and greed that ICE will not tolerate," said Roberto Medina, ICE special agent in charge in El Paso.

Authorities have reported the practice of taking immigrants hostage for years. In February, a Salvadoran girl held captive for ransom by her smuggler was rescued from the Downtown Greyhound bus station.

Thursday at Torres' Lower Valley house, agents found a 3-year-old boy and two women, all undocumented.

ICE officials said that the house served as a drop house and that the women and the toddler had been there a week. One of the women told the agents they paid $1,500 each to be smuggled into the United States. They appeared to be in good health.

Business as usual for the illegals. Right, Hillary?

Immigrant smuggler who ransomed boys sentenced
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:09/12/2007 12:57:22 PM MDT

An El Paso immigrant smuggler who held two boys for ransom last year was sentenced to 18 months in prison at a hearing in federal court Wednesday.
Antonio Vicente Torres, 32, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in December while he was picking up the ransom money in the Fox Plaza parking lot. He later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor and transport aliens.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said he and his common law wife Carolina Jaquez held two brothers, ages 9 and 11, who were separated from their mother after Border Patrol agents caught her and she agreed to be returned to Mexico.

Jaquez, now a fugitive, then allegedly called the boys' father and demanded $1,000.

The children were U.S. citizens; the parents were undocumented immigrants.

Torres went to the ransom pickup Nov. 30 with the 11-year-old boy, leaving the child in the entrance of a Pep Boys store.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandy Gardes described in court Wednesday how Torres and an undercover agent negotiated the ransom payment.

"Here's one," she said Torres said, pointing at the boy. "He's OK. You'll see the other when you give me the money."

The boy's 9-year-old brother had been left outside a tire store at North Loop and Carolina Drive in the Lower Valley.

ICE agents found him sitting on the curb, alone.

Jaquez had called the authorities to tell them where he was, Gardes said.

Torres' lawyer, Jim Darnell, argued that the children were never at risk of bodily harm.

But U.S. District Judge Philip Martinez gave Torres the maximum prison time allowed by the guidelines. He also ordered Torres to pay a $1,000 fine.

"This is an ugly case with ugly facts," Judge Martinez said. "It's an ugly business you were involved in, to be honest. Thank God that no harm, physical harm, came in that case."

Torres apologized to the court.

"I am repentant for what I did," he said, through an interpreter.

The children were reunited with their parents.


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